Trump dominates the news again

In South Carolina, the Republican presidential primary is turning into the nastiest kind of political war. Who’s topping the polls? As many of his supporters indicated, debate night appeared to have little impact on their vote.

While Ted Cruz was telling a rally in Mount Pleasant he said, “We are not going to grant American citizenship to individuals who are here illegally”.

Mr Trump also took some time to drag the brother of his other rival, Jeb Bush, through the dirt as well. “But when I walked in, it was like, my wife was clapping, my kids were clapping, but the whole room was made up of special interests and donors, which is a disgrace from the RNC”, Trump said.

Rubio is taking a similar tack in SC, accusing his Senate colleague of spreading falsehoods about his record on everything from same-sex marriage to immigration. His campaign sent out a press release Monday insisting Rubio “can’t handle the truth” or escape the fact that he supported amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants.

Abortion has emerged as the latest terrain for Cruz and Trump to argue over who is the true social conservative in the race, and the billionaire businessman has charged that the Texas senator is lying. Meanwhile, Rubio surrogate Rep. Trey Gowdy is stumping hard for his friend. Gowdy has also demanded that Cruz apologize for questioning Rubio’s pro-life record.

A new CNN poll finds Donald Trump maintaining a healthy lead over his GOP rivals in SC primary with Saturday’s election only days away. The venerable Bush family has placed all their proverbial chips on the table with the entire family campaigning for Jeb, including both former Presidents Bush. On the same stage, Jeb, who defended his brother at Saturday’s debate, continued to stick up for his big brother, calling Trump the “Michael Moore” of the Republican Party.

Rubio and Kasich’s rises could be bad news for the Bush campaign, which has played-up the former governor’s advantages in the state. He has chided his opponents for their negative attacks, while pledging to keep his campaign message positive.

Jeb Bush predicted he would do better than a fifth-place finish in the SC primary and said he was in the race for the long haul.

In the same interview, Mr Trump did not hesitate to contest his recent loss in to Mr Cruz.

John Kasich is in fourth at 10 percent support, followed by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, tied with 7 percent support each.